DAY ONE | DAY TWO | DAY THREE | DAY FOUR | DAY FIVE


DAY FOUR


Storyboard Presentations - be sure to send Mrs. Johnson a PowerPoint of my orientation game ideas; I presented one of my old keyboarding game ideas instead of the orientation one from yesterday; took pictures of storyboards to see how accurately I was remembering things from last year's work on those storyboards
Easy Icon Maker - for making an icon to go with a game executable file; remember to change icon in global game settings under the Loading tab, then go to File > Create Executable
Super Jungle Trivia and Crazy Machines on CD handed out
Notes for Expo -
  • Friday Expo -
9:30-10:30 Jack Spain or James Cowgill are recommended (but intro to game physics looks good)
10:45-11:45 Christine Heneghan
Lunch will be provided (wear badge!)
go see/hear Steve Reid from Red Storm (keynote speaker) 1-2 PM
2:15-3:15 Susan Gold or Marx Myth
3:30-4:30 Vincent Scheib or Kertis Henderson
  • Saturday Expo -
9:30-10:30 - Suzanne Meiler
10:45-11:45 - Daniel Barbour or Takayoshi Sato
Lunch provided (wear badge!)
1:00-2:00 - keynote Brenda Braithwaite

New Wii game demo by Wake Tech student Ryan - made in Flash 7, which will port to Wii using an API

Lee Sheldon talk -
  • currently working on ARG (Alternate Reality Game) called Skeleton Chase, re: viral marketing surrounding AI movie and Halo3
  • also working on developing an MMO called Londontown
  • genre of "serious games" (educational games) is an emergent force (as is the casual game and indie game market), also handheld games
  • game education summit at SMU
  • programming - art - story are the three major cornerstones of game development, in the best case scenario
  • big game developers hire 70% programmers, 30% artists (in general) and don't look to hire writers nowadays
  • he teaches writing for video games (ie., mmo's)
  • storytelling in games now usually comes in the form of cutscenese
  • Half Life and Portal are exceptions, wherein storytelling comes in the midst of gameplay, not just in cutscenes
  • a lot grant money is being offered right now for educational game development
  • for educational game development, you can start from one of two points of view: curriculum (meeting benchmarks at all costs) or engaging storytelling (focus on fun/entertainment)
  • IF is not necessarily a good entry point for game developing
  • start with a simple concept and elaborate
  • need to be a programmer/writer, designer/writer, artist/writer to come into industry from a writing perspective (or be a tester who can help solve programmers' problems)
  • he has worked on Quest Atlantis
  • good approach to storytelling is to let it emerge through NPC's (like Final Fantasy)
  • the game needs to keep players active as much as possible - involved in playing the game, not stopping to watch cutscenes or read a bunch of text
  • GTA4 is a great example of non-linear storytelling (as is Half-Life, the story develops in-game)

"Proposed Game Art and Design Curriculum" by Phyllis Jones and Roy Kimmons from Guilford County
  • Weaver and Page High Schools implementing a game design 1 level curriculum; it does have VoCATS that will be tied to it
  • a possible endorsement is coming to make this an inclusion to the standard course of study
  • level 1 and 2 curriculae is ready to be field tested in classrooms now for local inclusion
  • problem-solving and critical thinking skills are strongly developed when making games
  • a great way to impact student dropout rate
  • naturally includes core subjects of math, science, language arts (as well as technology)
  • totally project-based and student-centered, with teacher as facilitator
  • students learn how to manage project scope and benchmarks
  • will soon be running a workshop in CTE summer conference Greensboro in July to give teachers the endorsement to teach level 1 (right now they're only doing SciVis endorsement workshops)
  • Science and Visual Technology course 1 is going to probably be the pre-requirisite for students who want to take game design level 1 - "SciVis" is intended to address core curriculum through modeling and technology-based investigation and products; there is a VoCATS for it; they have a Quia account they use for quizzing and review; SciVis is tutorial-driven
  • Curriculum framework for Level 1:
    • Leadership
    • History and Ethics of Game Design
    • Popular Game Culture - using board games (mod them)
    • Game Design (part 1) - create design document for board game (original from scratch) and create game
    • Visual Design - create environments that use appropriate visual theory (which can be used for computer-based game); this is why the course needs SciVis 1 as a pre-req
    • Game Design (part 2) - for computer-based game
    • Game Production - of computer-based game (using Game Maker)
  • Ignition Game Academy engine is recommended for use in the courses, which works very well with 3D Studio Max (the recommended 3D modeling program)
  • Curriculum framework for Level 2:
    • Leadership
    • The Game Industry
    • Advanced Game Design
    • 3D Game Engines - mod a game (from Game Academy) and then create simple 3D game
  • Got card from Kimmons to pass along to Aleasa Glance
From Charles - check out http://www.nctsa.org/
Completed course evaluation



Did NOT get to Chapter 6 - Super Rainbow Reef -